Fire- Armor Cauldron

[Uncle Dave]

I'm trying to identify this cauldron to see what its original purpose was and I'm hopeful that I can use it for smelting large volumes of WW. I'm a new member and have not begun to cast yet but I'm getting closer. To my knowledge it was at our farm in the mid 60's when my parents moved in. It is a large and thick walled cauldron with the name "Fire-Armor" as well as a serial number cast in to it.
Any recommendations on best practices of using this for smelting are greatly appreciated. FYI I wear a size 13 shoe to give it some perspective and it's thickness is 1 1/4" thick or more. It's a two man job just to pick it up empty to load in a pick up. I saw one try and fail lol.
Thanks guys
Uncle Dave

Sure hope these work because I'm out of ideas and patience. I did read the posts on adding pics🤔
https://www.dropbox.com/s/auaivgdhfq...mor1.jpeg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ykq03try5...mor2.jpeg?dl=0

[oteroman]

Wow that would need a lot of BTU's.


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[Bazoo]

Once it got hot.... itd stay hot a long time. Thats really neat.

[NyFirefighter357]

Are you sure that number isn't a patent number? Fire Armor was fire protection equipment. Can you post that number and maybe a pic of them? Also a side shot of it might help.

[Uncle Dave]

Sure thing. Side view with numbers.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ykq03try5...mor2.jpeg?dl=0
Thanks
Uncle Dave
PS- I doubt anyone would go to the trouble to cast numbers in a non regulated / tested or traceable item.

[fralic76]

It could be from a commercial foundry.

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[dragon813gt]

Looks like a cauldron from a foundry. They are surrounded by fire brick. The burner, open flame, shoots in the bottom and wraps around the entire diameter. I hated installing those burners because foundries are always disgusting. If you're not surrounding the entire thing in fire brick you're going to waste a lot of energy heating it up.

[Uncle Dave]

Thanks guys & Dragon
I was thinking and hoping it was a foundry cauldron. The fire brick makes sence now I think about it. Any ideas on how they empty a unit like that? Is it temporarly placed in a perminate fire brick structure and then removed to empty. I'll take any guesses or suggestions at this point.
Thanks
Uncle Dave

[dragon813gt]

Ones I worked on were at an aluminum foundry. The cauldrons stayed in place. They used large ladles to remove the aluminum for the castings. Even w/ how light aluminum is it looked like grueling work. They had to walk about twenty yards to the molds when using the furthest cauldron.

Safety wasn't a word anyone mentioned at the place. We installed burners and controls that allowed them to light off w/ the push of a button. Before that they would crack open the gas valve and drop a piece of lit cardboard below the cauldron to light the burner. Once lit they would open the gas valve all the way. I don't miss working in that place. If I get a chance I will try and find the pics on my computer.

[country gent]

They were mounted in a ring with the lip on a traveling hoist and some had a lip spout to pour some were ladled from. We had several #10 rowel ladles at the plant to transfer metal when needed. With that pot even in fire bricks a ladle could be made from a 4" pipe cap and 3/4" black iron pipe you will want a long handle 3'-4' long for 2 handed operation. A piece of boiler plate 3/8"-1/2" with a hole cut in it for the pot to set thru and the lip to hold on Will make a solid mount on the fire bricks. You might consider leaving 1 brick out on the top layer to allow heat flow. A stack up of fire bricks square big enough to allow pot to set in with a little room around ii and the plate and pot on top with the center brick left out on each side. When stacking the bricks stagger the ends to they are interlocked for more strength in the stack. You can use a heavy propane burner, or add a grate and hard wood or coal for heat source. It should do a great job for you. One nice thing with a large batch when you alloy it up you end up with a lot of ingots all the same. Another on a big batch a small varience in weight of tin or other alloys is much smaller percentage

[Uncle Dave]

I'm getting about 70 lbs of WW from a truck tire store per month and I made a deal to get 2 more stores. I'm hoping to be setup to smelt a batch a month which that pot once some of the suggested improvements are in place. My challenge will be finding / sizing and or building the appropriate burner for this pot. More comments or suggestions are welcomed.
Thanks
Uncle Dave

[swamp]

Commercial wok burners put out a lot of heat. Can't get the pics to load. But I am on dial-up.
swamp

[lwknight]

It has no legs on it! It was probably a crucible.
You would have to build a stand to support it. I would be afraid of welding directly to the pot. Cast iron is bad to break when stressed.
Also when building the support you could incorporate a wind shield with a door to access the burner.

[Uncle Dave]

I have a Rowel 4.5 I planed to use for fast ingot making. I agree 100% no welding to it and I like the thick plate support idea on the fire brick. Fortunately I have a plasma cutter and welder plus a descent amount of steel about to fab with. I either have to figure out a way to tip it once the lead melts(w/ Bobcat) or accept there will be an amount I can't dip out with a ladle. I'll check it for a taper and see if I can imbed a steel lifting eye in the remainder and lift it out in a chunk once cooled.
As a member pointed out this may not be worth it but that's the appeal - do something a reasonable person would not Lol. I may just cool it off full once fluxed and dump it out. Who wouldn't want a 1000 lb Lead round nose boolit!!

[Grmps]

Wield an angle iron frame to support the cauldron and hold the brick also giving you space to put the burner.

[rmark]

'1000 lb Lead round nose boolit'

gas check or plain base?